History Main / LittlestCancerPatient

* A parody in the ''ChappellesShow'' sketch "Make a Wish," where the little kid's dying wish is to meet Dave Chappelle, who arrives and proceeds to beat the pants off the kid at Street Hoops, all while enthusiastically taunting him?

* The weeping, screaming, [[BodyHorror hideously-deformed]] Baby from ''{{Eraserhead}}'' fits this description, except that it ''is not TheWoobie''.
** Rather infamously, DavidLynch '''refuses''' to explain what The Baby really is made of.

* Parodied once again by the character of Lisa Davis in ''{{Airplane}}!''; her IV keeps getting ripped out and she has to reattach it herself before she flatlines.

''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' plays this one for laughs. In "The Wink", Kramer accidentally sells George Steinbrenner's birthday card to a sports memorabilia shop, who then gives it to a terminally ill kid. Paul O'Neill then has to hit two home runs in order to get it back.

* The {{Peanuts}} special "Why, Charlie Brown, Why?" Full stop.

* Averted on ''BreakingBad''. While Walter Jr has cerebral palsy, it is not his defining characteristic or even mentioned very often. He is portrayed on occasion as bitter about having the condition and has not hesitated about giving out to Walt about his apparent self pity. In a further, crueller subversion, Walt is subtly implied to be resentful of his son for forcing him into a job he hates.

* ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'' has the protagonist's daughter Katie, whose need for a zombie infection suppressant is Chuck's main motivation. She's an example of this done right, sympathetic enough to inspire VideoGameCaringPotential, but avoids being over-the-top or a pain to look after.

* Subverted in Tom Clancy's ''Literature/RainbowSix''. Terrorists taking over a Spanish theme park take a group of tourists hostage, including a contingent of terminally ill children, one of whom is the very incarnation of the trope, the little girl cancer patient in a wheelchair who's just so damned 'nice'. Then when their demands are refused, [[MoralEventHorizon they shoot her in the back and leave her corpse to wheel out the front gate, still in the wheelchair.]] Needless to say, while the other terrorists are taken out quickly and cleanly, the executioner receives a rifle bullet to the spleen (courtesy of the sniper who watched him kill the LCP) [[AssholeVictim An extremely slow and painful death follows.]] To be fair, the squad's leader (Ding Chavez) [[WhatTheHellHero makes his displeasure known to the sniper after the mission]]... [[PayEvilUntoEvil but no one]] ''really'' is displeased.

* Half of the plot of ''TheUltimateGift'' revolved around an arguably not littlest cancer patient. However the writers do use her to the fullest heart string yank effect possible.

** House shows little sympathy towards his Littlest Cancer Patient and is cynical about everyone else's reactions. Of course, that's the point of the character. It should also be noted that this episode provided some good mockery of Chase when [[spoiler:the twelve-year-old girl talked him into kissing her.]] However, he was substantially nicer to her (at least to her face) than most of his patients, and when she told him that she didn't want to die yet because Who would take care of her mom? he looked the closest he's ever come on the show to crying. A bit of a case of using the trope for a [[PetTheDog Pet the Dog moment]] - it showed that House is human after all. He just refuses to patronize the kids by treating them any differently because of their illness, which probably stems from his own experience with being disabled.

* Issue ten of AllStarSuperman features these, with it being mentioned that Superman makes regular trips to hospitals to try and give some comfort to terminally ill children. As the story deals with Superman facing his own approaching death, the issue also features attempts made to cure his own condition. When this ultimately fails, he's not at all bothered, explaining that the unsuccessful attempts to repair his Kryptonian body would easily cure any human illness. The issue ends with Superman returning to the hospital and apologizing that he won't be able to make it for the next trip... but the children would all be going home before then anyway.

* How have we not mentioned the completely merciless parody in the ''ChappellesShow'' sketch "Make a Wish," where the little kid's dying wish is to meet Dave Chappelle, who arrives and proceeds to beat the pants off the kid at Street Hoops, all while enthusiastically taunting him?

* The book ''MySistersKeeper'' deals with a Littlest (well, Teenaged) Cancer Patient, Kate, and her relationship with her little sister, Anna, who was born specifically to be her blood donor. Eventually, Kate needs a kidney and Anna wants control over her own body. In the end [[spoiler: Everyone gets what they want: Anna gets medical independence... and is [[DiabolusExMachina promptly]] hit by a car, thus giving Kate her kidney [[ShootTheShaggyDog anyway]]. It should be noted that Kate actually encouraged her sister to get independence in the first place, not wanting the other girl to be just her donor. However, the FilmOfTheBook has an ''entirely'' different ending - Anna gets her medical independence ''after'' Kate passes away]].

* Orlando Gardiner in TadWilliams' ''{{Otherland}}'' is dying of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progeria progeria]], yet maintains an active online life in the MetaVerse until his disease takes a turn for the worse, which conveniently coincides with him becoming [[TrappedInAnotherWorld trapped]] in the Grail Network. Subject to a lot of {{Wangst}}, naturally, although it's also subverted when [[spoiler:after his body dies, the Other makes a [[BrainUploading virtual copy]] of him]].

->'''EMT:''' Ma’am? Did someone order an ambulance for The [[TropeNamer Littlest Cancer Patient]]?

* Of course, every single ad from a foundation for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin kids with cancer]]. ''Every. Single. Ad.'' Though, to be fair, it's hard to see how they could make an ad for such a foundation and ''not'' have a LittlestCancerPatient.

* Part of a plot device in JLA Watchtower. A fund-raiser for a San Francisco children's hospital had some rare Titans action figures and memorabilia up for sale, with her heroes themselves guarding the memorabilia and interacting with fans. One of the action figures goes missing [[spoiler: turns out it was the older brother of LittlestCancerPatient, trying to get the ultimate Christmas gift for what was likely to be her last Christmas]].

* Parodied in ''CecilBDemented'', where the adorable cancer patient at a benefit is shown to be an annoying little jerk who probably deserves to die. [[spoiler: He does, a few minutes later, when the charity worker he was tormenting shuts off his respirator while everyone else is distracted by Cecil's kidnapping of a Hollywood star present at the benefit.]] Then again, did you expect anything less from John Waters?

* In ''ThankYouForSmoking'', the anti-smoking MoralGuardians attempt to use "Cancer Boy" as a trump card in a television appearance against tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor. It backfires, after which point one MoralGuardian even complains to his aide that the LittlestCancerPatient they picked ''wasn't little enough.''

* ''Film/TheXFilesIWantToBelieve'' has a B-plot concerning Scully's attempts to save a LittlestCancerPatient with Sandhoff disease, resulting in a conflict between her religious faith and her faith in science. If this sounds a bit too subtle for you, the kid is even named ''Christian''.

* The book and movie ''ThankYouForSmoking'' has its main character deliberately set up to share a talk show stage with a LittlestCancerPatient and thus be ruined; he manages to actually get out of it with better publicity than before. Parodied in that afterwards, he is revealed as a hired actor.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''{{Seinfeld}}'' plays this one for laughs. In "The Wink", Kramer accidentally sells George Steinbrenner's birthday card to a sports memorabilia shop, who then gives it to a terminally ill kid. Paul O'Neill then has to hit two home runs in order to get it back.

* A LittlestCancerPatient died in "Angels and Blimps", an episode of ''AllyMcBeal'', but he was played by Haley Joel Osment, so it wasn't really that sad. He was a tough lil' guy who decided to sue God and thought Ling was his Guardian Angel.

* Cruelly twisted in the ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Sick", their RippedFromTheHeadlines take on the second round of child molestation allegations against MichaelJackson. After the detectives begin investigating the Jacko-surrogate (who has bribed a family of a victim, a now-dangerously disturbed boy, to shut up), one of these comes forward saying she was also molested at a charity gathering. It turns out that first, [[spoiler: she was not molested, but forced to say this by her grandmother/guardian so they could get a similar settlement so the girl could live.]] Second is even worse: [[spoiler: she doesn't have cancer; her grandmother is secretly ''poisoning her'' to profit off her ill state]]. What's really sad is that this is TruthInTelevision, and [[spoiler: known as Munchausen by Proxy -- making someone in one's care intentionally sick to garner respect, sympathy, and money; while this is intended as the grandmother's defense, she is told that no one will be "that stupid" as to believe it -- she's just greedy]].
** A related story from ''Criminal Intent'', "Faith", has similar motivations: The LittlestCancerPatient whose blogs, phone interviews and autobiography brought the nation to tears [[spoiler: turned out to be a complete hoax: her GenreSavvy "guardian" wrote the book and blog herself, faked the phone calls, and even accepted donations of home medical equipment to stockpile for future sale on eBay. The truth only came out when a would-be benefactor insisted on meeting the girl in person]].

* ''GarthMarenghisDarkplace'' regularly parodies this trope by having Dr Rick Dagless pay a visit to "a very special friend of mine" mid-episode - a sick child who exists solely [[TheWesley to tell Dagless how wonderful he is]] and provide a little angst.

* The MusicVideo for We Are Scientists' song "It's a Hit" features a particularly gut-wrenching subversion of the "win the game for me" trope: lead singer Keith Murray as a 1920s boxer is approached by his "biggest fan", a young boy with a terminal disease, and promises to win the match for him. Unfortunately, Keith is then paired up with a heavyweight who punches him so hard that he is killed in the ring - and the bloodsplatter hits the LittlestCancerPatient, who has a ringside seat.
* The MusicVideo for KatyPerry's song "Firework" features an LCP who can see the fireworks exploding from KP's [[TorpedoTits magical breasts]]. Later in the video. Later he sees fireworks coming out of a woman giving birth. Later, when he steps outside the hospital. He is not featured in the jubilant [[BusbyBerkeleyNumber spiral dance]] at the end.

* In UserFriendly, Sid is in for chemo for a mild cancer, and he befriends a LittlestCancerPatient. When he comes in to exclaim that he's in full remission, he finds the bed empty... and goes deathly silent.

* Sandman's daughter in ''Film/{{Spider-Man}} 3''.

* Hayate in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha A's''. That the villains were doing what they did because they thought it would save her life placed them in the HeroAntagonist side of the morality scale.

* Subverted in Tom Clancy's ''RainbowSix''. Terrorists taking over a Spanish theme park take a group of tourists hostage, including a contingent of terminally ill children, one of whom is the very incarnation of the trope, the little girl cancer patient in a wheelchair who's just so damned 'nice'. Then when their demands are refused, [[MoralEventHorizon they shoot her in the back and leave her corpse to wheel out the front gate, still in the wheelchair.]] Needless to say, while the other terrorists are taken out quickly and cleanly, the executioner receives a rifle bullet to the spleen (courtesy of the sniper who watched him kill the LCP) [[AssholeVictim An extremely slow and painful death follows.]] To be fair, the squad's leader (Ding Chavez) [[WhatTheHellHero makes his displeasure known to the sniper after the mission]]... [[PayEvilUntoEvil but no one]] ''really'' is displeased.

* Yuuya, the cute IllBoy from the seventh and eighth volumes of CLAMP's ''TokyoBabylon'' qualifies, although he has a rare kidney disease rather than cancer. Not only does he rack up massive Moe points with the audience, he's also [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom the indirect cause]] of [[spoiler:Seishirou's eye being destroyed]], as his mother [[spoier: crossed the DespairEventHorizon, then [[LoveMakesyouCrazy went batshit crazy]] and tried to tear Subaru's kidney out, and instead ended up gouging his Seishirou's eye out right in front of him]]... resulting in even more [[BreaktheCutie angst and woe]].

* The cute boy from the seventh and eighth volumes of CLAMP's ''TokyoBabylon'' qualifies, although he has a rare kidney disease rather than cancer. Not only does he rack up massive Moe points with the audience, he's also the indirect cause of [[spoiler:Seishirou's eye being destroyed]], as his mother went [[spoiler:batshit crazy and tried to tear the Subaru's kidney out, and instead ended up gouging his Seishirou's eye out right in front of him]]... resulting in even more [[BreaktheCutie angst and woe]].
* In ''Anime/AngelBeats'', Otonashi's little sister dies young from an unspecified illness that left her in the hospital for much of her childhood.
* In one episode of ''{{Anime/Vandread}}'', while tending to one planet where the residents are largely ill due to bad conditions in their atmosphere, Bart befriends a little girl who loves to hear his exaggerated tales of what they've gone through up till this point. She is happy to hear all that, and begins working on a doll bearing his resemblance, which lets people know they existed and left something behind. When a Harvester Fleet shows up to try and kidnap some of the population, Bart goes into PapaWolf mode and does a YouShallNotPass on them. Unfortunately, the little girl dies from her illness while he was protecting the planet, and was never able to sew the doll's hair on. So Bart instead [[ImportantHaircut shaves his head]] to match the doll the little girl made.

* Although it's consumption she has, little Eva in ''UncleTomsCabin'' [[{{Glurge}} definitely qualifies]], making it OlderThanRadio. When she dies a peaceful and saintly death, [[UnfortunateImplications all the slaves present convert]].

* ''BreathOfFireIII'' has an enemy tournament participant claim falsely that his daughter is ill and needs the prize money for an operation. The heroes try to beat him anyway.

* In the [[FilmOfTheBook film version]] of ''FourteenOhEight'', it's shown in flashbacks that Mike Enslin's daughter Katie died due to an unspecified disease before the movie, an event that caused him to start investigating haunted houses... and [[HellHotel hotel]] [[{{Room101}} rooms]]. At one point in the room, Mike sees a vision of her, hugs her... and [[TearJerker she dies in his arms]], driving him over the DespairEventHorizon.

* ''Series/MondayMornings'' had quite a few during its first season.
** One extremely cute boy with big brown eyes who is a CheerfulChild and a future soccer star, who was brought to Chelsie General by his mum just as a precaution because he fell. He has a tumour in his brain. [[spoiler:He dies on Dr. Ty Wilson's table, and it is a major screw-up.]]

* A LittlestCancerPatient died in "Angels and Blimps", an episode of ''AllyMcBeal'', but he was played by Haley Joel Osment, so it wasn't really that sad.

* Mildly subverted in ''Series/{{House}}:'' the title character shows little sympathy towards his LittlestCancerPatient and is cynical about everyone else's reactions. Of course, that's the point of the character. It should also be noted that this episode provided some good mockery of Chase when [[spoiler:the LittlestCancerPatient talked him into kissing her.]]
** And, of course, there's [[TheWoobie Wilson's]] patients. "Bald-headed cancer kids" is probably the kindest thing House has said about them...
*** Played rather amusingly lately when Wilson was caring for a LCP whose mother wasn't allowed into the hospital because of a CDC-related lockdown; despite his sweet, well-meaning attempts, he kind of fails at comforting her, and gets a stuffed lamb in the face for his trouble.

*** Given House's general ass-like behavior, it's not surprising that he talks about the LCPs in this way (and pulled the cat stunt, he had no actual belief in the cat's death-predicting abilities) to shock people. However, it's notable that on the episode where he actually had to treat the LCP, he was substantially nicer to her (at least to her face) than most of his patients, and when she told him that she didn't want to die yet because [[TearJerker Who would take care of her mom?]] he looked the closest he's ever come on the show to crying. That episode was definitely a case of using the LCP for a [[PetTheDog Pet the Dog moment]] - it showed that House is human after all. He just refuses to patronize the kids by treating them any differently because of their illness, which probably stems from his own experience with being disabled.
* ''{{ER}}'' had a StoryArc dedicated to one of these, the head doctor's son.